Friday, March 13, 2009

Mushrooms!

Our backyard is filled with lovely mushrooms. As the seasons change, so do the colors and shapes of our fungi friends! We have found mushrooms that are white, orange, brown, green/white, tan, purple and black. The plant kingdom never ceases to amaze us with it's diversity and beauty....

On our way to art lessons earlier this month, we saw a tree stump with the most beautiful fungus growing from it.

Joey found an interesting piece of wood that came from an old planter. Taking the tops of mushrooms that had already fallen and some acorn caps, she made a fairy home, complete with a bedroom below and a dining area on top!

We collected the tops from a bunch of larger, deep orange/purple mushrooms that had ruffle edges that were starting to decompose. Adding some organic coffee grounds, copper granules and water, we boiled up a batch of natural dye. A lovely color resulted on the play silks that we left in the pot for a couple of days. Truly, magical mushrooms!

7 comments:

What an amazing find in your own backyard how fun. I didnt realize they came in so many different colors, and that you could make dyes from them that is really neat!I loved the fairy house it was magical, I know I would like very much to come and live their if I was a little woodland fairy.